Maintaining Energy Principal Preferences in a Vehicle

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program product for managing user preferences associated with charging transactions for electric vehicles. In one embodiment, a set of principals associated with a charging transaction for an electric vehicle is identified in response to receiving a request for a set of preferences from an energy transaction planner. The vehicle preference service is located on the electric vehicle. The set of preferences are retrieved from a plurality of preferences. The set of preferences comprises a subset of preferences for each principal in the set of principals. A preference in the set of preferences specifies a parameter of the charging transaction that is to be minimized, maximized, or optimized. The set of preferences are sent to an energy transaction planner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related generally to an improved dataprocessing system, and in particular, to a method and apparatus formanaging electric vehicle charging transactions. More particularly, thepresent invention is directed to a computer implemented method,apparatus, and computer usable program code for a preference service onboard an electric vehicle for managing user preferences associated withcharging transactions for the electric vehicle.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electric vehicles (EV) can be divided into two categories: totallyelectric vehicles (TEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).Plug-in hybrid vehicles utilize two or more power sources to drive thevehicle. With the increasing costs of fossil fuels and concern overreliance on non-renewable resources, electric vehicles are poised tobecome a critical component of transportation systems throughout theworld. Gasoline powered vehicles utilize the explosive power of amixture of gasoline and air to propel the vehicle. In contrast, electricvehicles rely in whole or in part on electric power to drive thevehicle.

Electric vehicles contain electric storage mechanisms, such asbatteries, to store electricity until it is needed to power the electricvehicle. The electric storage mechanisms require periodic charging toreplenish the electric charge for continued operation. The electricityused to charge the electric storage mechanisms may be provided by anytype of on-vehicle power generation and charging mechanism. Theon-vehicle power generation and charging mechanisms may includeconsumptive power generation systems and/or non-consumptive powergeneration systems, such as, without limitation, fuel cells, gasolinepowered combustion engines, bio-diesel powered engines, solar poweredgenerators and regenerative braking systems.

In totally electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,charging of the electric vehicles can also be accomplished by pluggingthe electric vehicle into an off-vehicle charging station. Theoff-vehicle charging station provides an external source of electricity,such as, an electric power grid. Totally electric vehicles require thistype of off-vehicle charging in all cases. Off-vehicle charging is alsolikely to be significantly less expensive for plug-in hybrid electricvehicles than on-vehicle charging given currently available technology.Consequently off-vehicle charging may be the preferred charging mode forelectric vehicle owners.

The power stored in the electric storage mechanisms on the electricvehicles and on-vehicle power generation mechanisms may be used toprovide electricity back to the electricity grid. For electric vehiclesto be used as suppliers of electric power to an electric power grid,electric vehicles are connected to an off-vehicle infrastructure whichcan efficiently consume the electricity generated or stored by theelectric vehicle. To date, electric vehicle manufacturers and electricutility companies have only planned and provided infrastructure andmethods for the most rudimentary charging scenario in which the electricvehicle is plugged into a common electric outlet.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a computerimplemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code isprovided for managing user preferences associated with electric vehiclecharging transactions. In response to a vehicle preference servicereceiving a request for a set of preferences associated with a chargingtransaction for an electric vehicle from an energy transaction planner.The vehicle preference service identifies the set of principalsassociated with the charging transaction for the electric vehicle. Aprincipal in the set of principals is an entity having an interest inthe charging transaction for the electric vehicle. A chargingtransaction is a transaction associated with at least one of chargingthe electric vehicle, storing electric power in an electric storagemechanism associated with the electric vehicle, and de-charging theelectric vehicle. The vehicle preference service is located on theelectric vehicle. The vehicle preference service retrieves the set ofpreferences for each principal in the set of principals to form a set ofpreferences for the charging transaction. The set of preferencescomprises a subset of preferences of interest for the each principal inthe set of principals. A preference in the set of preferences specifiesa parameter of the charging transaction that is to be minimized,maximized, or optimized. The vehicle preference service sends the set ofpreferences to the energy transaction planner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network of data processing systems inwhich illustrative embodiments may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data processing system in whichillustrative embodiments may be implemented;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an energy transaction infrastructure inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a vehicle preference service on-board anelectric vehicle in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of vehicle preferences in accordance with anillustrative embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of preference settings in accordance with anillustrative embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of parties to an electric vehicle chargingtransaction in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process for creating and storingpreferences by a vehicle preference service in accordance with anillustrative embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a process for a preference serviceproviding preferences for a user to an energy transaction planner inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment; and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for identifying a set ofpreferences for an identified principal by a preference service inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as a system, method, or computer program product.Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore,the present invention may take the form of a computer program productembodied in any tangible medium of expression having computer-usableprogram code embodied in the medium.

Any combination of one or more computer-usable or computer-readablemedium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CDROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as thosesupporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device.Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even bepaper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, asthe program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usableor computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with thecomputer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband oras part of a carrier wave. The computer-usable program code may betransmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited towireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages, including an object oriented programming language such asJava, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer,partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partlyon the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely onthe remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remotecomputer may be connected to the user's computer through any type ofnetwork, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network(WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (forexample, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

The present invention is described below with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the invention. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/orblock diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions.

These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also bestored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

With reference now to the figures, and in particular, with reference toFIGS. 1-2, exemplary diagrams of data processing environments areprovided in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented. It shouldbe appreciated that FIGS. 1-2 are only exemplary and are not intended toassert or imply any limitation with regard to the environments in whichdifferent embodiments may be implemented. Many modifications to thedepicted environments may be made.

FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of dataprocessing system in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented.Network data processing system 100 is a network of computers in whichthe illustrative embodiments may be implemented. Network data processingsystem 100 contains network 102, which is the medium used to providecommunications links between various devices and computers connectedtogether within network data processing system 100. Network 102 mayinclude connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, orfiber optic cables.

In the depicted example, server 104 and server 106 connect to network102 along with storage unit 108. In addition, clients 110, 112, and 114connect to network 102. Clients 110, 112, and 114 may be, for example,personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server104 provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, andapplications to clients 110, 112, and 114. Clients 110, 112, and 114 areclients to server 104 in this example. Network data processing system100 may include additional servers, clients, and other devices notshown.

Electric vehicle 116 is any vehicle that utilizes electric power inwhole or in part to drive the vehicle. Electric vehicle 116 is capableof being plugged into charging station 118. Electric vehicle 116 may bea totally electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Theplug-in electric hybrid vehicle may be a gasoline/electric hybrid, anatural gas/electric hybrid, a diesel/electric hybrid, abiodiesel/electric hybrid, or any other type of plug-in electric hybrid.Electric vehicle 116 may optionally include an on-vehicle powergeneration mechanism such as, but without limitation, solar powerelectric generators, gasoline powered electric generators, biodieselpowered electric generators, regenerative breaking systems, or any othertype of on-vehicle electric power generation mechanism. Electric vehicle116 may be any type of vehicle that relies in whole or in part onelectric power to drive the vehicle, such as, for example and withoutlimitation, a car, a truck, a motorcycle, a motor scooter, athree-wheeler, a sport utility vehicle, a van, an eighteen wheeler, anamphibious vehicle, or any other type of vehicle.

Charging station 118 is any station, kiosk, garage, power outlet, orother facility for providing electricity to electric vehicle 116.Electric vehicle 116 receives electricity from, or provides electricityto, an electric grid at charging station 118. In other words, electriccharge may flow from an electric grid through charging station 118 toelectric vehicle 116 or the electric charge may flow from electricvehicle 116 back into the electric grid through charging station 118.Charging station 118 is a selected charge/discharge site, such as anoutlet or kiosk, for providing electric vehicle 116 with access to theelectric grid. For example, and without limitation, charging station 118may be a power outlet in a privately owned garage, an electric outlet ina docking station in a commercially owned electric vehicle chargingkiosk, or a power outlet in a commercially owned garage.

Electric vehicle 116 connects to charging station 118 via an electricaloutlet or other electricity transfer mechanism. The electricity may alsobe optionally transferred via wireless energy transfer, also referred toas wireless power transfer, in which electrical energy is transferred toa load, such as electric vehicle 116, without interconnecting wires. Theelectricity may flow from charging station 118 into electric vehicle tocharge electric vehicle 116. The electricity may also flow from electricvehicle 116 into charging station 118 to sell electricity back to thepower grid.

Electric vehicle 116 and charging station 118 are optionally connectedto network 102. Electric vehicle 116 and charging station 118 send andreceive data associated with the charging of electric vehicle, thecapabilities of electric vehicle, the capabilities of charging station118, the current charge stored in electric vehicle, the rate of chargingelectric vehicle, the price of electricity received from a power grid,identity of the owner and/or operator of electric vehicle 116 and/or anyother data relevant to charging or de-charging electric vehicle 116 overnetwork 102.

In the depicted example, network data processing system 100 is theInternet with network 102 representing a worldwide collection ofnetworks and gateways that use the Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols to communicatewith one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone ofhigh-speed data communication lines between major nodes or hostcomputers, consisting of thousands of commercial, governmental,educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Ofcourse, network data processing system 100 also may be implemented as anumber of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet,a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). FIG. 1 isintended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for thedifferent illustrative embodiments.

With reference now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a data processingsystem is shown in which illustrative embodiments may be implemented.Data processing system 200 is an example of a computer, such as server104 or client 110 in FIG. 1, in which computer-usable program code orinstructions implementing the processes may be located for theillustrative embodiments. Data processing system 200 may also beimplemented as a computing device on-board an electric vehicle, such aselectric vehicle 116 in FIG. 1.

In this illustrative example, data processing system 200 includescommunications fabric 202, which provides communications betweenprocessor unit 204, memory 206, persistent storage 208, communicationsunit 210, input/output (I/O) unit 212, and display 214. Processor unit204 serves to execute instructions for software that may be loaded intomemory 206. Processor unit 204 may be a set of one or more processors ormay be a multi-processor core, depending on the particularimplementation. Further, processor unit 204 may be implemented using oneor more heterogeneous processor systems in which a main processor ispresent with secondary processors on a single chip. As anotherillustrative example, processor unit 204 may be a symmetricmulti-processor system containing multiple processors of the same type.

Memory 206, in these examples, may be, for example, a random accessmemory or any other suitable volatile or non-volatile storage device.Persistent storage 208 may take various forms depending on theparticular implementation. For example, persistent storage 208 maycontain one or more components or devices. In another example,persistent storage 208 may be a hard drive, a flash memory, a rewritableoptical disk, a rewritable magnetic tape, or some combination of theabove. The media used by persistent storage 208 also may be removable.For example, a removable hard drive may be used for persistent storage208.

Communications unit 210, in these examples, provides for communicationswith other data processing systems or devices. In these examples,communications unit 210 is a network interface card. Communications unit210 may provide communications through the use of either or bothphysical and wireless communications links.

Input/output unit 212 allows for input and output of data with otherdevices that may be connected to data processing system 200. Forexample, input/output unit 212 may provide a connection for user inputthrough a keyboard and mouse. Further, input/output unit 212 may sendoutput to a printer. Display 214 provides a mechanism to displayinformation to a user.

Instructions for the operating system and applications or programs arelocated on persistent storage 208. These instructions may be loaded intomemory 206 for execution by processor unit 204. The processes of thedifferent embodiments may be performed by processor unit 204 usingcomputer implemented instructions, which may be located in a memory,such as memory 206. These instructions are referred to as program code,computer-usable program code, or computer-readable program code that maybe read and executed by a processor in processor unit 204. The programcode in the different embodiments may be embodied on different physicalor tangible computer-readable media, such as memory 206 or persistentstorage 208.

Program code 216 is located in a functional form on computer-readablemedia 218 that is selectively removable and may be loaded onto ortransferred to data processing system 200 for execution by processorunit 204. Program code 216 and computer-readable media 218 form computerprogram product 220 in these examples. In one example, computer-readablemedia 218 may be in a tangible form, such as, for example, an optical ormagnetic disc that is inserted or placed into a drive or other devicethat is part of persistent storage 208 for transfer onto a storagedevice, such as a hard drive that is part of persistent storage 208. Ina tangible form, computer-readable media 218 also may take the form of apersistent storage, such as a hard drive, a thumb drive, or a flashmemory that is connected to data processing system 200. The tangibleform of computer-readable media 218 is also referred to ascomputer-recordable storage media. In some instances,computer-recordable media 218 may not be removable.

Alternatively, program code 216 may be transferred to data processingsystem 200 from computer-readable media 218 through a communicationslink to communications unit 210 and/or through a connection toinput/output unit 212. The communications link and/or the connection maybe physical or wireless in the illustrative examples. Thecomputer-readable media also may take the form of non-tangible media,such as communications links or wireless transmissions containing theprogram code.

The different components illustrated for data processing system 200 arenot meant to provide architectural limitations to the manner in whichdifferent embodiments may be implemented. The different illustrativeembodiments may be implemented in a data processing system includingcomponents in addition to or in place of those illustrated for dataprocessing system 200. Other components shown in FIG. 2 can be variedfrom the illustrative examples shown.

As one example, a storage device in data processing system 200 is anyhardware apparatus that may store data. Memory 206, persistent storage208, and computer-readable media 218 are examples of storage devices ina tangible form.

In another example, a bus system may be used to implement communicationsfabric 202 and may be comprised of one or more buses, such as a systembus or an input/output bus. Of course, the bus system may be implementedusing any suitable type of architecture that provides for a transfer ofdata between different components or devices attached to the bus system.Additionally, a communications unit may include one or more devices usedto transmit and receive data, such as a modem or a network adapter.Further, a memory may be, for example, memory 206 or a cache such asfound in an interface and memory controller hub that may be present incommunications fabric 202.

Currently, electric vehicle manufacturers and electric utility companieshave only planned and provided infrastructure for the most rudimentarycharging scenarios, such as, merely plugging the electric vehicle into acommon electric outlet that is owned by the owner and operator of theelectric vehicle. The illustrative embodiments recognize that chargingelectric vehicles will frequently be conducted under much broader andmore complex sets of circumstances than this simple scenario andinfrastructure is needed to accommodate these complex transactions. Forexample, owners and operators of electric vehicles will frequently berequired to charge their electric vehicle at a charging station that isremote from the home of the electric vehicle owner. In mostcircumstances, it is unlikely that the electric vehicle owner will ownthe off-vehicle charging stations from which the owner obtainselectricity to recharge the electric vehicle. In such a situation, theowner or operator of the electric vehicle will likely be required to payfor the charge obtained from the off-vehicle charging station.

The illustrative embodiments recognize that the charging transactions bywhich electric vehicles obtain electricity from an off-vehicle chargingstation to charge the electric vehicle requires a much more complete,flexible, and interoperable system governing all aspects of the chargingtransaction. Electric vehicle charging transactions can be divided intothe pre-charge phase, the charge phase, and the post-charge phase.

During the pre-charge phase of decision enablement, a charging plan isgenerated and all parties are presented with the conditions governingthe charging transaction. During the charging phase, electricity flowsto, from, or is stored in the electric vehicle. Finally, during thepost-charge phase of the transaction, payment is made and an analysis isperformed to provide incentives and induce specific behaviors on thepart of one or more principals involved in the transaction. Additionalcharging infrastructure may also be provided to meter electricity at thepoint of charge, identify the various parties involved in thetransaction, and provide flexible business rules governing the flow offunds between those parties.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an energy transaction infrastructure inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment. Electric vehicle energytransaction infrastructure 300 is a charging infrastructure for managingall phases of an electric vehicle charging transaction. During thepre-charge phase, all parties of the transaction are presented with theconditions governing the charging transaction. The parties may include,without limitation, the owner of the electric vehicle to be charged, theoperator of the electric vehicle, the owner of the charging station, andan electric utility company providing electricity to an electric powergrid associated with the charging station. Parties agree to conditionsrelevant to their role in the transaction prior to the chargecommencing. There are likely to be many special circumstances in theterms and conditions which are presented in standard formats which areuniversally understood and which can be readily communicated and agreedupon by all parties.

During the pre-charge phase, electric vehicle energy transactioninfrastructure 300 utilizes energy preference service 302, energydecision assistant 304, incentive service 305, energy device capabilityservices 306, energy data services 308, energy transaction planner 310,and optionally, energy transaction plan approval service 312 to generatea plan governing the charging transaction for the parties involved inthe transaction.

Energy preference service 302 is a software component bolted on anelectric vehicle that generates, stores, and retrieves preferenceinformation associated with the electric vehicle and the preferenceinformation associated with the parties to the transaction. Preferencesmay include, without limitation, a maximum price per kilowatt hour to bepaid by a party for electricity, a location where charging may occur, alocation where charging may not occur, a rate of charging the electricvehicle, a minimum amount of charge, or any other preferences associatedwith charging the electric vehicle. The preferences may be pre-generatedby one or more of the parties to the transaction.

Energy decision assistant 304 is an optional service that providesreal-time options and trade-offs for a particular trip. For example,energy decision assistant 304 may monitor available incentives, weatherconditions, a travel route, traffic information, and other real-timedata to identify the best electric vehicle charging options for aparticular trip.

Incentive service 305 receives offers of incentives from third partyvendors. The incentives may be offers of discounts, rebates, rewards,and/or other incentives associated with charging an electric vehicle toencourage an operator of the electric vehicle to perform one or morebehaviors associated with charging the electric vehicle. For example,and without limitation, an incentive may offer to charge the electricvehicle for free at a particular charging station if the owner oroperator of the electric vehicle purchases one or more products from thethird party vendor. Incentives service 305 provides informationdescribing current incentives to energy transaction planner 310. In oneembodiment, incentives service 305 provides the information describingthe incentives to energy decision assistant 304. Energy decisionassistant 304 then provides the incentives information to energytransaction planner 310.

Energy device capability service 306 is a software component thatidentifies and validates device capabilities. For example, and withoutlimitation, energy device capability service 306 may include informationdescribing the charging capabilities of the charging station, thecharging requirements of the electric vehicle, the maximum storagecapacity of the electric vehicle on-vehicle storage mechanisms, theexisting amount of charge in the electric vehicle, the number of amps ofelectricity the charging station is capable of providing, and any otherinformation associated with the capabilities and requirements of theelectric vehicles and the charging station.

Energy data services 308 are a set of one or more third party datasources providing information relevant to the energy transaction. Energydata services 308 may include, without limitation, weather informationsources, traffic information sources, map and travel informationsources, charging station price information sources, or any other thirdparty information sources.

Energy transaction planner 310 is an application that creates atransaction plan for governing the electric vehicle charging transactionbased on preferences of one or more principals. Energy transaction planapproval service 312 approves the transaction plan and validates withenergy transaction broker 314. Energy transaction plan approval service312 may be required to notify one or more parties of the terms of thetransaction and obtain approval of one or more of the terms from theparty. For example, and without limitation, if an operator of theelectric vehicle is not the owner of the electric vehicle, energytransaction plan approval service 312 may require approval from theowner of the vehicle before allowing the vehicle to receive power at acharging station if the charging station and/or a utility will chargethe owner of the electric vehicle a fee for the charging transaction. Autility refers to a provider of electric power. A utility typicallyprovides electric power to a charging station via an electric powergrid.

In this example, the charging phase begins when energy transactionexecution engine 316 sends the transaction plan generated by energytransaction planner 310 for approval by energy transaction plan approvalservice 312, initiates the request to begin charging the electricvehicle, monitors and logs the health and safety of charging process318, and receives requests from energy transaction interrupt monitor320. During charging process 318, electricity flows into the electricvehicle or out of the electric vehicle and back into the power grid.Energy transaction interrupt monitor 320 monitors data transmissions todetect interrupt conditions that may terminate the flow of electricpower to or from a vehicle. The interrupts may originate from the powergrid, suppliers, and/or vehicles. For example, if a price of energyexceeds a predefined threshold in violation of a user-selectedpreference, energy transaction interrupt monitor 320 detects thisinterrupt condition and initiates appropriate actions to handle thecessation of electric power flow to the electric vehicle.

Energy transaction broker 314 supports settling an electric vehiclecharging and discharge transaction independent of electricity supplier,parking space supplier, electrical infrastructure supplier, taxingauthority, incentive provider, or other interested party. Elementsinclude pricing schedules, time based pricing, facility recovery, taxcollection, incentives, and/or fixed plans. Energy transaction broker314 may also be used by energy transaction approval service 312 tovalidate the financial elements of the energy transaction plan prior toplan approval and prior to charging the electric vehicle.

The post-charge phase comprises analysis of the completed energytransaction to provide incentives, redeem credits or benefits, andinduce specific behaviors by one or more parties involved in thecharging transaction. The post-charge phase also includes payment of theappropriate parties for the energy transaction in accordance with theenergy transaction plan governing the transaction. Various programs maybe available to incent specific behaviors on the part of consumers. Forexample, a vehicle owner or user may receive reduced electricity ratesif vehicle charging is conducted during off-peak times, such as duringthe night rather than during daylight hours when electricity usage ishigher. Post charging information exchange 322 accumulates datapertinent to these incentives or redemption programs, authenticates theincentives data, and analyzes the incentives data to identify the mosteffective business process and optimize incentives for the parties.

During this charging phase, payment or fees for the charge are alsorecorded. Operational and financial parameters are conveyed for anoptimum charge to occur. For example, a dynamic representation of anelectric vehicle capability to consume charge should be understood atall times during the charging process to ensure the vehicle is notdamaged or that the protections of the charging system are preserved.Electricity metering of the power flow may also be conducted andreported. Standards representing the acceptable charging voltage andamperage ranges, for example may be communicated and maintained for asafe charging transaction to occur. All data pertinent to the financialtransaction is conveyed and recorded.

In one embodiment, a party that will be responsible for paying forelectricity as an element of an electric vehicle charging transaction.An on-vehicle receiver maintains the data required to complete theelectric vehicle charging transaction. The electric vehicle chargingtransaction comprises identifying at least one party paying the electricvehicle charge, the vehicle to be charged, and the relationship betweenthe party and the electric vehicle. For example, the relationshipbetween the party and the electric vehicle may be an owner of theelectric vehicle, an operator of the electric vehicle, a renter of theelectric vehicle, a utility associated with the electric vehicle, or anyother relationship. Once the relationship is established, the chargingof the storage mechanisms on the electric vehicle is performed.

The components shown in FIG. 3 may be implemented on a data processingsystem associated with an electric vehicle. In such case, the componentscommunicate and transfer data using integration and service bus 324.Integration and service bus 324 is an internal communication systemwithin the electric vehicle, such as any wired or wirelesscommunications system. A wired communications system includes, withoutlimitation, a data bus or a universal serial bus (USB). If one or morecomponents shown in FIG. 3 are located remotely, the components maytransfer data using any type of wired or wireless network connection toconnect to a network, such as network 102 in FIG. 1. A wireless networkconnection may be implemented over a cell-phone network, satellite,two-way radio, Wi-Fi networks, or any other type of wireless network.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a computerimplemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code isprovided for managing user preferences associated with electric vehiclecharging transactions. In response to a vehicle preference servicereceiving a request for a set of preferences associated with a chargingtransaction for an electric vehicle from an energy transaction planner,the vehicle preference service identifies a set of principals associatedwith the charging transaction for the electric vehicle. A principal inthe set of principals is any entity that may have an interest or role inthe energy transaction, including but not limited to the vehicleoperator, owner, charging kiosk, utilities associated with any or all ofthe other principals. The owner and operator of the vehicle may be thesame person or the owner and operator of the vehicle may be differentpeople. The vehicle preference service is coupled to the electricvehicle.

The charging transaction is a transaction associated with at least oneof charging the electric vehicle, storing electric power in an electricstorage mechanism associated with the electric vehicle, and de-chargingthe electric vehicle. As used herein the phrase “at least one of” whenused with a list of items means that different combinations of one ormore of the items may be used and only one of each item in the list isneeded. For example, at least one of a charging the electric vehicle,storing electric power in an electric storage mechanism, and de-chargingthe electric vehicle may include, for example and without limitation,only charging the electric vehicle or a combination of charging theelectric vehicle and storing electric power in an electric storagemechanism associated with the electric vehicle. This example also mayinclude a transaction that involves any combination of charging theelectric vehicle, storing electric power in an electric storagemechanism associated with the electric vehicle, and de-charging theelectric vehicle. In addition, the charging, storing, and de-chargingmay occur more than one time during a given charging transaction. Forexample, during a single transaction, the electric vehicle may bede-charged, then charged, used to store electric power in the electricstorage mechanism for a given time, then de-charged for a second time,and after a given time period, the electric vehicle may be re-chargedagain. All these occurrences of charging, storing, and de-charging mayoccur in a single charging transaction or in a series of two or morecharging transactions.

A principal may select preferences for managing aspects of the electricvehicle's charging transactions using a user input/output device locatedon-board the electric vehicle. In other words, the principal uses anon-board system for maintaining, inputting, storing, and retrievingpreferences that are used to manage the charging, de-charging, and/orstoring of electric power associated with the electric vehicle.

The vehicle preference service retrieves the set of preferences from aplurality of preferences stored in a data storage device coupled to orlocated on the electric vehicle. The set of preferences comprises asubset of preferences of interest for each principal in the set ofprincipals. A preference in the set of preferences specifies a parameterof the charging transaction that is to be minimized, maximized, oroptimized. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that thewords “optimize”, “optimization” and related terms are terms of art thatrefer to improvements in speed, efficiency, accuracy, quality, and/orimprovement of one or more parameters of electric vehicle chargingtransactions, and do not purport to indicate that any parameter of thecharging transaction has achieved, or is capable of achieving, an“optimal” or perfectly speedy, perfectly efficient, and/or completelyoptimized state.

The vehicle preference service sends the set of preferences to an energytransaction planner. The energy transaction planner utilizes the set ofpreferences and the weighting value associated with the each preferenceto generate an energy transaction plan to control charging of theelectric vehicle.

Turning now to FIG. 4, a block diagram of a vehicle preference serviceon-board an electric vehicle in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment. Electric vehicle 400 is an electric vehicle that relies inwhole or in part on electricity to drive the vehicle, such as, withoutlimitation, electric vehicle 116 in FIG. 1.

Vehicle preference service 402 is a software component for creating,managing, storing, and retrieving preferences for electric vehicle 400and one or more parties associated with a charging transaction for theelectric vehicle, such as energy preference service 302 in FIG. 3.Vehicle preference service 402 is included within or bolted on electricvehicle 400. In other words, vehicle preference service 402 is apreference service that is included within the electric vehicle andmanages preferences for the owner and/or operator of the electricvehicle. The owner and/or operator of the electric vehicle may bereferred to as a principal involved in the energy transaction.

In one embodiment, vehicle preference service 402 is a systemincorporated within the electric vehicle. In another embodiment, vehiclepreference service 402 is added onto the electric vehicle as anafter-market component. For example, and without limitation, vehiclepreference service 402 may be added onto an electric vehicle as anadd-on in a manner similar to the way in which global position system(GPS) navigation systems are added on to vehicles.

Vehicle preference service 402 comprises processing unit 404, plannerinterface 406, and user input/output 408. Processing unit 404 providesthe overall coordination of the components associated with vehiclepreference service 402. Vehicle preference service 402 responds to userinput and requests or prompts users to enter input through userinput/output 408. User input/output 408 may be implemented in any typeof user interface for receiving user input and providing output to theuser, such as, without limitation, a graphical user interface, a commandline interface, a menu driven interface, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, a voice-recognition system, or any other type of input/outputdevice. User input/output 408 formats the user input into a form thatcan be processed by processing unit 404 and then stored by a datastorage component on electric vehicle 400, such as data storage device418.

User input/output 408 may also display previously selected preferencesto user 412 and permit user 412 to enter an “acceptance” of thepreviously selected preferences or select an editing option to update ormodify the previously selected preferences to form updated preferencesfor user 412. The preferences may be presented in a visual or graphicalformat on a display, in an audio format, presented as a combination ofaudio and visual content, presented in a raised format that can be readby the blind, or in any other format.

In another example, user input/output 408 may be used to obtaintemporary preferences from user 412. Temporary preferences are onlyvalid until a predetermined condition occurs. The predeterminedcondition may include, without limitation, expiration of an amount oftime, a predetermined day of the week, day of the month, or time of day,expiration of a number of charging transactions, or any other condition.

Temporary preferences are used to override the default or previouslyselected preferences entered by user 412. The temporary preferencesoverride the default preferences for a given period of time or for agiven number of charging transactions. For example, temporarypreferences may be selected to override the default preferences for user412 for only the current charging transaction. User input/output 408 mayprompt user 412 to provide temporary preferences for one or moreupcoming transactions. The prompt may be provided by voice, screendisplay, or any other means for prompting user 412.

When vehicle preference service 402 requests an identity of user 412from user 412. If the identity of user 412 indicates that user 412 is anew user, vehicle preference service 402 sends requests 410 to user 412to prompt user 412 to select a set of preferences for user 412. Requests410 are sent to user 412 through user input/output 408. User 412 enterspreference choices as input 414 through user input/output 408. Vehiclepreference service 402 stores the preference choices selected by user412 in data storage device 418 as a set of preferences in preferences420. In one embodiment, if user 412 is not a new user and pre-existingpreferences are available for user 412, vehicle preference service 402displays the pre-existing preferences to user 412 and gives user 412 anopportunity to update or change one or more of the preferences that user412 previously selected.

When a user, such as user 412, creates a set of preferences and/orupdates a pre-existing set of preferences for the user, vehiclepreference service 402 uses principal identification mechanism 416 toidentify the user that created and/or updated the set of preferences sothat the correct set of preferences may later be retrieved when energytransaction planner 422 requests preferences for that particular user.In other words, principal identification mechanism 416 authenticatesusers of the preference service who request input/access to theirpreferences, for example, and without limitation, to initiate a planningphase. Principal identification mechanism 416 may include a badgereader, a radio frequency identification tag reader, a biometric device,a prompt requesting a password and/or user login, or any other type ofidentification mechanism. The biometric device may include, withoutlimitation, a fingerprint scanner, a thumbprint scanner, a palm scanner,a voice print analysis tool, a retina scanner, an iris scanner, a devicefor reading deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) patterns of the user, or anyother type of biometric identification device.

Likewise, the identification of the user may include, withoutlimitation, a user name, a password, a personal identification (PIN)number, an identifier, a fingerprint, a thumbprint, a retinal scan, aniris scan, or any other type of identification. The identification isassociated with the set of preferences to map the set of preferenceswith the identification of the user that created the set of preferences.In another embodiment, security authentication, authorization, and/oridentification information for the principal's identity may also beprovided. The identification of user 412 may also be accomplished viathe driver preference settings available on electric vehicle 400.

Preference manager 417 is a software component associated with vehiclepreference service 402. Preference manager 417 creates, manages, stores,and retrieves preferences for one or more principals. Preferences 420are choices for managing, governing, and/or controlling the manner inwhich electric vehicle 400 is charged with electric power at chargingstation 434, de-charged, or used for storage of electric power.De-charging refers to removing or drawing electric power from electricvehicle 400 and returning the electric power to a power grid associatedwith charging station 434. Charging station 434 is a station or kioskfor permitting electric vehicle 400 to connect to an electric grid tocharge or de-charge electric vehicle, such as charging station 118 inFIG. 1.

A preference specifies a parameter of the charging transaction that isto be minimized, maximized, or optimized. A parameter of the chargingtransaction is any feature of the charging transaction, such as, withoutlimitation, a rate of charging, a length of time for charging, a time tobegin charging, a time to cease charging, a maximum level of charge, aminimum level of charge, or any other aspect of the chargingtransaction.

It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the words“optimize”, “optimization” and related terms are terms of art that referto improvements in speed, efficiency, accuracy, quality, and/orimprovement of one or more parameters of electric vehicle chargingtransactions, and do not purport to indicate that any parameter of thecharging transaction has achieved, or is capable of achieving, an“optimal” or perfectly speedy, perfectly efficient, and/or completelyoptimized.

Each preference may optionally be associated with a weighting value. Forexample, a preference may specify that charging at charging stationsthat obtain power from environmentally friendly, “green”, wind farms isto be maximized while charging at charging stations that obtain powerfrom “brown”, coal powered plants that may be harmful to the environmentand should be minimized. Brown energy refers to power generated frompolluting sources, as opposed to green energy that is produced fromrenewable or less polluting energy sources.

Preferences 420 may also specify the price per kilowatt hour the user iswilling to pay to charge the electric vehicle, identify certain chargingstations the user prefers to fully charge electric vehicle 400 andidentify other charging stations at which the user prefers to partiallycharge electric vehicle 400, perhaps due to proximity to the user's homeor due to the source of the electricity used by charging station 434.For example, preferences may indicate that charging when the price perkilowatt hour is less than thirteen cents is to be maximized andcharging when prices are higher than thirteen cents per kilowatt hour isto be minimized or prohibited all together. In another example,preferences 420 may specify a limit, such as, without limitation, buyelectricity up to a certain price or optimize the cost of the returntrip home given the current prices of gas and electricity.

Preferences 420 may be static, dynamic, or temporary preferences. Astatic preference is a preference that is effective until the userchanges the preference. A static preference may be referred to as adefault preference. A dynamic preference is a preference that does nothave a predetermined value. A dynamic preference requires a user toenter a value for the dynamic preference in real time as the set ofpreferences responsive to the request of energy transaction planner 422.Thus, if a preference for the operator of the vehicle charging electricvehicle 400 is a dynamic preference, the principal is always prompted toenter a preference value indicating whether a particular operator ofelectric vehicle 400 is authorized to charge the electric vehicle. Auser may choose to make a preference for operator charging electricvehicle 400 a dynamic preference so that the owner of electric vehicle400 will always be informed of who is attempting to charge electricvehicle 400 and have the option of preventing the charging of electricvehicle 400 in real time prior to commencing of the chargingtransaction. A temporary preference is a preference that is only validfor a predetermined period of time. When the period of time expires, thetemporary preference is invalid and no longer used. For example, a usermay set a temporary preference that indicates no charging is to beperformed for the next ten minutes at the charging station where theuser is parked because the user is only going to be parked for fiveminutes. At the end of the ten minute time period, the temporarypreference expires and electric vehicle 400 can begin charging if theelectric vehicle 400 is still parked at the charging station.

Vehicle preference service 402 may store preferences 420 in any type ofstorage component, such as data storage device 418. Data storage device418 may be implemented as any type of known or available device forstoring data, such as, without limitation, a hard drive, a flash memory,a main memory, read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), amagnetic or optical disk drive, tape, or any other type of data storagedevice. Data storage may be implemented in a single data storage deviceor a plurality of data storage devices. Data storage device 418 islocated locally on electric vehicle 400.

Preferences 420 are preferences selections chosen by one or more users.A set of preferences may be stored for each user in a plurality ofprincipals. For example, if electric vehicle 400 is owned and operatedby a single person, preferences 420 may only contain a set ofpreferences for the person that is the owner and operator. However, ifelectric vehicle 400 is owned by a company that frequently loanselectric vehicles to employees, preferences 420 may include a set ofpreferences for the owner and a set of preferences for each employeethat borrows electric vehicle 400. In such a case, vehicle preferenceservice 402 may create, store, and manage hundreds of sets ofpreferences for hundreds of principals.

Vehicle preference service 402 receives requests from energy transactionplanner 422 and responds to the requests from energy transaction planner422 through planner interface 406. Planner interface 406 provides thenecessary communication protocols and mechanisms to permit vehiclepreference service 402 to communicate with energy transaction planner422.

Energy transaction planner 422 is a component for generating an energytransaction plan to manage the charging of an electric vehicle connectedto an electric grid in accordance with the preferences of one or moreparties to the electric vehicle charging transaction, such as energytransaction planner 310 in FIG. 3. When energy transaction planner 422is engaged to create a transaction plan to govern an electric vehiclecharging transaction for electric vehicle 400, energy transactionplanner 422 sends message 424 through planner interface 406 to vehiclepreference service 402. Message 424 contains at least the identity oneor more principals and a description of the specific preferences thatare required by energy transaction planner 422. For example, energytransaction planner 422 may only need charging related preferences ifthe charging station is incapable of providing discharge or storeservices. Message 424 may be implemented as a single message includingthe identification of one or more principals and an identification ofthe types of preferences of interest for the energy transaction or twoor more messages exchanged between energy transaction planner 422 andvehicle preference service 402.

Energy transaction planner 422 may include authentication module 423.Authentication module 423 comprises any type of known or availableencryption technology and/or security protocols. Authentication module423 authenticates and/or encrypts communications between vehiclepreference service 402 and energy transaction planner 422.Authentication module 423 may be used to authenticate vehicle preferenceservice 402 itself or authenticate tokens provided by vehicle preferenceservice 402 for each of the principals for which vehicle preferenceservice 402 is providing preferences to energy transaction planner 423.Authentication module 423 may also be used to authenticate informationreceived from vehicle preference service 402 in response 425.

In response to receiving message 424, vehicle preference service 402retrieves the one or more preferences from the plurality of preferencesstored in preferences 420 in data storage device 418 for the principalidentified in message 424. Preference manager 417 is a softwarecomponent associated with vehicle preference service 402. Preferencemanager 417 identifies specific preferences in preferences 420 that areresponsive to the request in message 424. Preference manager 417retrieves the preferences that are responsive to the request for theidentified user to form a set of preferences. The set of preferences aresent to energy transaction planner 422 via response 425 for utilizationin generating an energy transaction plan. In other words, response 425comprises the set of preferences that are responsive to the request inmessage 424.

The principal may need to store and make available electric vehiclecharging preferences for utilization by energy transaction planner 422.The principal uses on-board vehicle preference service 402 to maintain,input, store, and/or retrieve preferences 420 for the principal and/orone or more other parties associated with the electric vehicle chargingtransaction, such as, without limitation, a electric utility of theowner, an electric utility of the operator, the charging station, theelectric vehicle manufacturer, the electric vehicle distributor, or anyother party with an interest in the electric vehicle chargingtransaction.

In this embodiment, user 412 is an operator of electric vehicle 400located inside or in close proximity to electric vehicle 400. However,in another embodiment, one or more principals may be located remotely toelectric vehicle, such as remote user 428. Remote user 428 may be anowner of electric vehicle that has loaned electric vehicle 400 to afamily member, friend, or employee. Remote user 428 may specify that aset of preferences for remote user 428 are to be used instead of thepreferences of the operator or in addition to the preferences of theoperator of electric vehicle. In such a case, the set of preferences forremote user 428 that are responsive to the request in message 424 inaddition to the set of preferences for user 412 that is responsive tothe request are sent to energy transaction planner 422. Energytransaction planner 422 then generates an energy transaction plan usingthe preferences for both user 412 and remote user 428.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, energy transaction planner 422 is anon-vehicle component that is attached, coupled to, or located onelectric vehicle 400. However, in another embodiment, vehicle preferenceservice 402 may receive message 424 from an energy transaction plannerthat is located on a computing device that is remote from electricvehicle 400, such as energy transaction planner 430 on remote server432. Energy transaction planner 422 sends message 424 with anidentification of one or more principals and a request for preferencesof interest to vehicle preference service 402 over a network via networkinterface 426.

Network interface 426 is any type of network access software known oravailable for allowing electric vehicle 400 to access a network. Networkinterface 426 connects to a network connection, such as network 102 inFIG. 1. The network connection permits access to any type of network,such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or theInternet. Vehicle preference service 402 utilizes network interface 426to send the set of preferences to off-vehicle energy transaction planner430 that is located on a remote computing device.

In this example, preferences 420 include preferences for an owner and/oroperator of electric vehicle 400. In another embodiment, preferences 420may also include preferences for principals other than the owner and/oroperator of electric vehicle 400. For example, a principal may alsoinclude an owner or operator of charging station 434, a utility, afinancial institution, or any other party having an interest in theelectric vehicle charging transaction. The non-owner or operatorprincipals may have their preferences entered into the on-vehiclepreference service by the owner or operator of electric vehicle 400 ontheir behalf.

Referring to FIG. 5, a block diagram of vehicle preferences is shown inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment. Preferences 500 are types ofpreferences that may be included within preferences for one or moreusers, such as preferences 420 in FIG. 4. Preferences 500 may becharging preferences 502 for governing energy transaction to charge anenergy storage device associated with the electric vehicle, de-chargingpreferences 504 for governing energy transactions for de-charging ordepleting the energy stored in an energy storage device, or storagepreferences 506 for governing the storage of electricity in the electricvehicle's energy storage mechanisms.

A user may wish to de-charge or transfer power from the electric vehicleto a charging station if the price of the electricity is higher thanwhen the electricity was purchased and stored in the electric vehicle.For example, if a user charges an electric vehicle at night when theprice of the electricity is only nine cents per kilowatt hour, the usermay wish to de-charge or provide electricity from the electric vehicleback to the charging station at noon when the price per kilowatt hour isfifteen cents because the user is able to make a profit from storing theelectricity in the electric vehicle until the price of electricityincreases and then selling the electricity back to the electric grid.

Some examples of charging preferences include, without limitation,financial 508, locations 510, time 512, amount of charge 514, powersource 516, and/or operator 518. For example, financial 508 preferencesmay specify price per kilowatt hour 520 that the user is willing to payto charge the electric vehicle or payment method 522 for purchasing theelectricity from the charging station and/or the electricity grid.Payment method 522 may include, without limitation, credit cards, cash,debit card, credit, or any other type of payment. The payment typepreferences may even specify a particular credit card or bank accountfor debit to pay for the charging transaction.

Locations 510 preferences may specify preferred charging station 524,preferred locations 526 of the charging stations, and/or specifiedlocations 528 for charging. For example, the user may specify that anytime the electric vehicle is parked at a charging station that is at aspecified location, the electric vehicle is not to be charged at all, tobe charged to a particular charge level, or to be fully charged. Theuser may wish to set these preferences because the charging stations area given distance from the user's home or workplace, due to past servicereceived at the charging station, or any other factors.

Time 512 preferences may specify, without limitation, time of day 530for charging the vehicle, time of day to stop charging the vehicle, dayof month 532 for charging, and/or day of the week 534 for charging theelectric vehicle.

Amount of charge 514 preferences may specify minimum level 536 of chargein the electric vehicle's storage device, a maximum level of charge 538,or specify different levels of charge depending on power source 540 ofthe electricity used to charge the electric vehicle. If the power sourceis a “green” source, such as solar power, the user may specify a highercharge level than if the power source is a more environmentally harmful,or “brown” power source, such as coal or oil.

Power source 516 preferences specify types of power sources that areacceptable or preferred and/or provide weighting values for differentpower sources. The power sources may be identified as “green” or “brown”542. The power sources may also be identified specifically by the typeof power source, such as wind, solar, coal, oil, and so forth.

Operator 518 preferences are preferences for allowing particularoperators to charge the electric vehicle. Owner 544 is a preference thatpermits an owner to charge, particular individuals 546 permitsidentified individuals to charge the vehicle, and any operator 548 is apreference that permits anyone to charge the electric vehicle. Theoperator 518 preference may permit a user to prevent or impede theft ofthe electric vehicle. For example, if a user sets owner 544 as amandatory preference that only permits the owner to charge the electricvehicle, a thief would not be permitted to recharge the electricvehicle. Therefore, a thief may not be able to transport the electricvehicle very far from the location at which the electric vehicle wasstolen.

The preferences described for charging preferences 502 are only exampleof some preferences that may be used. A vehicle preference service isnot required to utilize all of the preferences shown in FIG. 5.Moreover, a vehicle preference service may utilize other preferences notshown in FIG. 5 without departing from the scope of the embodiments.Finally, the preferences shown for charging preferences 502 may also beused as preferences for de-charging preferences 504 and/or storagepreferences 506, in addition to other preferences not shown. Forexample, de-charging preferences 504 may include operator 518preferences specifying operators that are permitted to de-charge or sellpower back to the electric grid, financial 508 specifying prices atwhich the electricity may be transferred from the electric vehicle andsold back to the electric grid, time 512 when de-charging may occur,amount of charge 514 levels for de-charging, and power source 516 of thepower that is de-charged.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of preference settings in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. Preference settings 600 are settings that maybe appended to a preference, such as preference A 602. Preference A 602may be any type of preference, such as, without limitation, financial,locations, time, amount of charge, power source, operator, or any otherpreferences. Mandatory 604 specifies that the requirements of aparticular preference must be met or a charging transaction will not bepermitted. For example, if a user sets an operator preference indicatingthat only the owner is permitted to charge the electric vehicle and theuser sets the preference to mandatory, only the owner will be permittedto initiate charging of the electric vehicle. Any other operator of theelectric vehicle will not be permitted to charge the electric vehicleunless the owner changes the preference settings.

Optional/weighted 606 is a setting that indicates that a preference ispreferred or desirable, but not mandatory. For example, the user mayspecify that “green” power sources, such as wind and solar powersources, are preferred but not mandatory. In such cases, the energytransaction planner may still permit charging of the electric vehicle atcharging stations that utilize electricity provided by coal poweredelectric generators. The weighting value permits a user to indicate howstrongly the user wants a particular preference to be minimized,maximized, or optimized. In the example above, the user may indicate ahigh weighting value in favor of wind and solar power, a mediumweighting value for nuclear power plants, and a low weighting value forcoal power plants. The energy transaction planner may then use theweighting value to determine how much to charge or de-charge theelectric vehicle or whether to charge or de-charge the electric vehicleat all.

Static 608 indicates that a preference is a default preference thatshould be used in all cases. A static preference does not change fromone charging transaction to the next charging transaction. Dynamic 610setting indicates that a user wants to provide or select a value orchoice for this preference every time a charging transaction plan isgenerated. A dynamic preference is selected in real time as the chargingtransaction is commencing. Temporary 612 indicates that a temporarypreference value is to be used in place of a static preference for alimited period of time. For example, a user may wish to override astatic preference that the electric vehicle should always be fullycharged at a particular charging station with a temporary preferenceindicating that the electric vehicle is not to be charged because theuser will only be parked at the charging station for a few minutes.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a block diagram of parties to an electric vehiclecharging transaction is depicted in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment. Each party may have a set of preferences for charging theelectric vehicle that is managed by the vehicle preference service. Aprincipal is any entity that may have an interest or role in the energytransaction for charging an electric vehicle, including but not limitedto, the vehicle operator, owner of the electric vehicle, the owner ofthe charging station, the operator of the charging station, financialinstitutions associated with one or more of the parties, utilitiesassociated with one or more of the principals, or third parties havingan interest in the charging transaction. FIG. 7 illustrates thedifferent relationships between principals. Any one or more of theprincipals shown in FIG. 7 may have preferences stored in the on-vehiclepreference service.

Electric vehicle 700 is a vehicle that relies in whole or in part onelectric power to drive the vehicle, such as electric vehicle 118 inFIG. 1 or electric vehicle 400 in FIG. 4. Owner of electric vehicle 702is a principal that creates a set of preferences in vehicle preferenceservice on electric vehicle 700. Operator of electric vehicle 704 is aprincipal that may be the owner or only someone that has borrowedelectric vehicle 700. Each operator may optionally create their own setof preferences in the vehicle preference service on electric vehicle.Charging station 706 is a station or kiosk at which electric vehicleobtains charge or de-charges to provide electricity back to the electricgrid, such as charging station 118 in FIG. 1 or charging station 434 inFIG. 4. Charging station 706 may also have a set of preferences forgoverning the charging of electric vehicle 700.

Each party may have a utility associated with the party. Each utilitymay also have preferences for governing the charging transaction. Forexample, utility of owner 708, utility of operator 710, and utility ofcharging station 712 may each be parties with an interest in thecharging transaction and preferences for governing the charging ofelectric vehicle 700.

Each party may also have a financial institution for paying for theelectricity purchased, or for being reimbursed for electricity providedback to the electric grid. A financial institution may be a bank, acredit card company, a broker, a lender, or any other financialinstitution. For example, financial institution A 714 may be associatedwith owner of electric vehicle 702, financial institution B 716 may beassociated with operator of electric vehicle 704, and financialinstitution C 718 may be associated with charging station 706. Each ofthese financial institutions may have preferences for controlling howamounts due are received, how charges of payments are received andaccepted, how credits are issued and received, and other aspects offinancial transactions associated with charging electric vehicle 700.

Third party vendor 720 is a third party that is not associated withcharging station 706 or electric vehicle 700. For example, and withoutlimitation, third party vendor 720 may be a grocery store, a conveniencestore, a car wash, a repair shop, or any other type of vendor. Thirdparty broker 722 is a third party that may provide financing or managefinancial transactions associated with charging electric vehicle 700.

Each of the parties shown in FIG. 7 may optionally have preferences,constraints, limitations, or requirements associated with chargingelectric vehicle 700. The vehicle preference service on electric vehicle700 may optionally store, manage, and retrieve some or all of thesepreferences, constraints, limitations, and requirements in data storagedevice on electric vehicle 700. The vehicle preference service retrievesthe information of interest that is responsive to a request by an energytransaction planner and sends the preferences of interest to the energytransaction planner for use in generating a plan to govern the chargingof electric vehicle 700 at charging station 706.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process for creating and storingpreferences by a vehicle preference service in accordance with anillustrative embodiment. The process in FIG. 8 is implemented by anenergy preference service on an electric vehicle, such as vehiclepreference service 402 in FIG. 4.

The process begins by requesting an identity of a user (step 802). Theuser may be identified using any type of identification means, such as,without limitation, a user name, a password, a personal identification(PIN) number, an identifier, a fingerprint, a thumbprint, a retinalscan, an iris scan, or any other type of identification. The user may bean owner of an electric vehicle, an operator of the electric vehicle, autility, a financial institution, an owner or operator of a chargingstation, a third party broker, or any other principal shown in FIG. 7.The vehicle preference service makes a determination as to whether theuser is a new user (step 804). If the user is a new user, the vehiclepreference service creates a new preferences template (step 806). Thevehicle preference service prompts the user to enter new preferences(step 806). The user may enter the preference selections through a userinterface, such as user input/output 408 in FIG. 4. The vehiclepreference service receives the preferences through the user interface(step 810). The vehicle preference service stores the preferences in thedata storage device (step 812) with the process terminating thereafter.

Returning to step 804, if the user is not a new user, the vehiclepreference service retrieves current preferences for the user (step814). The vehicle preference service displays the preferences to theuser (step 816). The display may be provided as visual content, audiocontent, a combination of audio and visual content, or any other type ofpresentation of the preferences.

The vehicle preference service prompts the user to indicate whether theuser wants to enter changes or update the preferences (step 818). If theuser indicates that changes or updates are desired, the vehiclepreference service prompts the user to enter new preferences (step 808).The vehicle preference service receives the preferences through the userinterface (step 810). The preferences are updated or modifiedpreferences. The vehicle preference service stores the preferences inthe data storage device (step 812) to form updated preferences for theuser with the process terminating thereafter.

The process shown in FIG. 8 permits a user to input their preferencesdirectly into an on-vehicle preference service. This process alsopermits a user to store preferences for one or more other principals.For example, if the user is the owner of the electric vehicle, the usermay wish to enter the user's own preferences and the preferences for theuser's utility company and one or more frequent operators of theelectric vehicle.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a flowchart illustrating a process for apreference service providing preferences for a user to an energytransaction planner is shown in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment. The process in FIG. 9 is implemented by an energy preferenceservice on an electric vehicle, such as vehicle preference service 402in FIG. 4.

The process begins by receiving a request for preferences for identifiedparties from an energy transaction planner, such as energy transactionplanner 422 in FIG. 4 (step 902). The identified parties include one ormore principals, such as the principals shown in FIG. 7. The energytransaction planner may send one or more requests for preferences forone or more identified parties to a single energy preference service orto two or more energy preference services. In this example, the energytransaction planner sends the request for preferences to an on-vehiclepreference service, such as vehicle preference service 402 in FIG. 4.

The preference service identifies a set of preferences responsive to therequest (step 904). The set of preferences includes a subset ofpreferences for each party in the identified parties. The preferenceservice retrieves the set of preferences for the identified parties(step 906). The preference service sends the requested preferences tothe energy transaction planner (step 908) with the process terminatingthereafter.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for identifying a set ofpreferences for an identified principal by a preference service inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment. The process in FIG. 10 isimplemented by an energy preference service on an electric vehicle, suchas vehicle preference service 402 in FIG. 4. The process in FIG. 10 is amore detailed description of steps 902-904 in FIG. 9.

The process begins by receiving a message identifying a user andrequesting preference selections for the user (step 1002). Thepreference service identifies static preferences in the user'spreferences that are responsive to the request, such as staticpreference 608 in FIG. 6, to form a set of preferences (step 1004). Apreference that is responsive to a request is a preference that is atype of preference of interest to the transaction. For example, anenergy transaction planner may be concerned with identifying how long tocharge an electric vehicle. In such a case, the types of preferences ofinterest that are responsive to the request may include amount of charge514 and time 512 in FIG. 5 while preferences associated with de-chargingand storage preferences may not be responsive to the request.

The preference service makes a determination as to whether any temporarypreferences, such as temporary preferences 612 in FIG. 6, are responsiveto the request (step 1006). If any temporary preferences are responsiveto the request, the preference service makes a determination as towhether the temporary preferences are valid (step 1008). A temporarypreference is valid until a predetermined condition occurs, such as,without limitation, a predetermined period of time or an occurrence of apredetermined number of charging transactions. The temporary preferencemay be invalid if the time period during which the temporary preferenceis valid is expired or the number of charging transactions have alreadyoccurred. If the temporary preference is valid at step 1008, thepreference service identifies the temporary preferences in the set ofpreferences (step 1010). In other words, the valid temporary preferencesthat are responsive to the request are included in the set ofpreferences along with the static preferences.

The preference service determines whether any dynamic preferences areresponsive to the request (step 1012). If none of the dynamicpreferences are responsive to the request, the process terminatesthereafter. If one or more of the dynamic preferences for the user isresponsive to the request, the preference service prompts the user toselect a value for the dynamic preference (step 1014). A value for adynamic preference is a selected setting or choice for the dynamicpreference. The preference service receives the selected value for thedynamic preference from the user (step 1016). The preference serviceidentifies the selected dynamic preference value in the set ofpreferences (step 1018). In other words, the selected dynamic preferenceis included in the set of preferences for the user, in addition to thestatic preferences and any temporary preferences responsive to therequest, with the process terminating thereafter.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a computerimplemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code isprovided for managing user preferences associated with electric vehiclecharging transactions. In response to a vehicle preference servicereceiving a request for preferences associated with a chargingtransaction for an electric vehicle from an energy transaction planner,the vehicle preference service identifies a set of principals associatedwith the charging transaction for the electric vehicle. The vehiclepreference service is located on the electric vehicle.

The vehicle preference service identifies preferences in a plurality ofpreferences that are responsive to the request to form preferences ofinterest. The vehicle preference service retrieves the preferences ofinterest for each principal in the set of principals to form a set ofpreferences for the charging transaction. The set of preferencescomprises a subset of preferences of interest for the each principal inthe set of principals. A preference specifies a parameter of thecharging transaction that is to be minimized, maximized, or optimized.The vehicle preference service sends the set of preferences to an energytransaction planner. The energy transaction planner utilizes the set ofpreferences and the weighting value associated with the each preferenceto generate an energy transaction plan to control charging of theelectric vehicle.

In this manner, one embodiment provides a system for charging anelectric vehicle's electricity storage mechanism while managing allaspects of the electric vehicle charging transaction. The systemdemonstrates the capability for identifying the party that will beresponsible for paying for the electricity as part of an electricvehicle charging transaction. As part of this process, a user paying forthe electric vehicle charge is identified, the electric vehicle isidentified, and the relationship between the user and the electricvehicle is identified. Once the relationship of the parties isestablished, the charging of the electric vehicle storage mechanisms cancommence.

The on-vehicle preference service enables management of information thatis used to improve financial transactions associated with chargingelectric vehicles. The illustrative embodiments specify how and whatinformation is passed between discrete entities to charge an electricvehicle at arbitrary charging locations. The on-board vehicle preferenceservice creates, manages, stores, and retrieves preferences for anelectric vehicle and one or more principals associated with the electricvehicle charging transaction. The principals may include, withoutlimitation, an electric vehicle owner, the electric vehicle operator,one or more electric power utilities, one or more financialinstitutions, one or more owners and/or operators of a charging station,a third party broker, or any other principal. In this manner, thepreference service provides extensive information regarding the electricvehicle charging preferences for multiple parties to an energytransaction planner during pre-charge transactions.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

The invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardwareand software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the invention isimplemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware,resident software, microcode, etc.

Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer programproduct accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable mediumproviding program code for use by or in connection with a computer orany instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description,a computer-usable or computer-readable medium can be any tangibleapparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transportthe program for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device.

The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or apropagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include asemiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computerdiskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), arigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of opticaldisks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compactdisk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution.

Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards,displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system eitherdirectly or through intervening I/O controllers.

Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems orremote printers or storage devices through intervening private or publicnetworks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of thecurrently available types of network adapters.

The description of the present invention has been presented for purposesof illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention, the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

1. A computer implemented method of managing user preferences associatedwith charging transactions for electric vehicles, the computerimplemented method comprising: responsive to a vehicle preferenceservice receiving a request for a set of preferences associated with acharging transaction for an electric vehicle from an energy transactionplanner, identifying a set of principals associated with the chargingtransaction for the electric vehicle, wherein a principal in the set ofprincipals is an entity having an interest in the charging transactionfor the electric vehicle, and wherein the charging transaction is atransaction associated with at least one of charging the electricvehicle, storing electric power in an electric storage mechanismassociated with the electric vehicle, and de-charging the electricvehicle; retrieving the set of preferences from a plurality ofpreferences, by the vehicle preference service, wherein the set ofpreferences comprises a subset of preferences for each principal in theset of principals, wherein a preference in the set of preferencesspecifies a parameter of the charging transaction that is to beminimized, maximized, or optimized; and sending the set of preferencesto the energy transaction planner, by the vehicle transaction planner.2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:receiving a selection of preferences from a principal in the set ofprincipals to form selected preferences for the principal in theplurality of preferences, wherein the principal enters the selection ofpreferences using a user interface coupled to the electric vehicle; andresponsive to receiving an identification of the user, associating theidentification of the user with the selected preferences for the user.3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 wherein the identificationis selected from a group consisting of a user name, a password, apersonal identification number, an identifier, a fingerprint, athumbprint, a retinal scan result, and an iris scan result.
 4. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 1 wherein each preference in theplurality of preferences is associated with a weighting value andwherein retrieving the set of preferences further comprises: retrievingthe weighting value associated with each preference in the set ofpreferences; and sending the weighting value associated with the eachpreference in the set of preferences to the energy transaction planner,wherein the weighting value indicates a priority of each preferencerelative to other preferences in the set of preferences.
 5. The computerimplemented method of claim 1 further comprising: responsive to adetermination that a user is a new user, creating a preferences templateand prompting the user to select preferences; receiving selectedpreferences from the user through a user interface; and storing theselected preferences for the new user in the plurality of preferences.6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:responsive to a determination that a user has previously selectedpreferences to form current selected preferences, retrieving the currentselected preferences for the user and presenting the current selectedpreferences to the user; responsive to receiving a selection to enterchanges to the current selected preferences by the user, prompting theuser to enter the changes to the current selected preferences; receivingthe changes to the current selected preferences; and storing the changesto the current selected preferences in a data storage device to formupdated preferences for the user.
 7. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1 wherein retrieving the subset of preferences in the set ofpreferences for each principal further comprises: responsive toidentifying a temporary preference in the subset of preferences for agiven principal, determining whether the temporary preference is valid,wherein a temporary preference is a preference that is only valid untila predetermined condition occurs; and responsive to a determination thatthe temporary preference is valid, including the temporary preference inthe subset of preferences for the given principal within the set ofpreferences.
 8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 whereinretrieving the set of preferences for each principal further comprises:responsive to identifying a dynamic preference in the subset ofpreferences for a given principal, prompting the given principal toselect a preference value for the dynamic preference, wherein thedynamic preference is a preference that requires a selection of apreference value by the given principal in real time as the set ofpreferences is being generated; receiving a selection of the preferencevalue for the dynamic preference from the given principal; and includingthe dynamic preference and the value selected for the dynamic preferencein the set of preferences.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim 1wherein each preference in the set of preferences is associated with anindicator that indicates whether the preference is mandatory oroptional, wherein all requirements of a mandatory preference are metduring the charging transaction, and wherein the charging transaction isstopped in response to a determination that a mandatory preference isnot met.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein theprincipal is selected from a group consisting of an operator of theelectric vehicle, an owner of the electric vehicle, an owner of acharging station, an operator of the charging station, an electric powerprovider of the owner of the electric vehicle, an electric powerprovider of the operator of the electric vehicle, an electric powerprovider of the owner of the charging station, a financial institution,and a third party broker.
 11. A computer program product comprising: acomputer usable medium including computer usable program code formanaging user preferences associated with charging transactions forelectric vehicles, the computer program product comprising: computerusable program code for identifying a set of principals associated witha charging transaction for an electric vehicle in response to a vehiclepreference service receiving a request for preferences associated withthe charging transaction for the electric vehicle from an energytransaction planner, wherein a principal in the set of principals is anentity having an interest in the charging transaction for the electricvehicle, and wherein the charging transaction is a transactionassociated with at least one of charging the electric vehicle, storingelectric power in an electric storage mechanism associated with theelectric vehicle, and de-charging the electric vehicle; computer usableprogram code for retrieving the set of preferences from a plurality ofpreferences, by the vehicle preference service, wherein the set ofpreferences comprises a subset of preferences for each principal in theset of principals, wherein a preference in the set of preferencesspecifies a parameter of the charging transaction that is to beminimized, maximized, or optimized; and computer usable program code forsending the set of preferences to the energy transaction planner, by thevehicle transaction planner.
 12. The computer program product of claim11 wherein each preference in the set of preferences is associated witha weighting value and further comprising: computer usable program codefor retrieving the weighting value associated with the each preferencein the set of preferences; and computer usable program code for sendingthe weighting value associated with the each preference in the set ofpreferences to the energy transaction planner, wherein the weightingvalue indicates a priority of each preference relative to otherpreferences in the set of preferences.
 13. The computer program productof claim 11 further comprising: computer usable program code forcreating a preferences template and prompting a user to enter selectedpreferences in response to a determination that the user is a new user;computer usable program code for receiving the preferences selected bythe user through a user interface; and computer usable program code forstoring the preferences selected by the new user to form selectedpreferences for the user in the plurality of preferences.
 14. Thecomputer program product of claim 11 further comprising: computer usableprogram code for retrieving current selected preferences for a user andpresenting the current selected preferences to the user in response to adetermination that the user has previously selected preferences to formthe current selected preferences; computer usable program code forprompting the user to enter changes to the current preferences inresponse to receiving a selection to enter the changes to the currentselected preferences by the user; computer usable program code forreceiving the changes to the current selected preferences; and computerusable program code for storing the changes to the current selectedpreferences in a data storage device to form updated preferences for theuser.
 15. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:computer usable program code for prompting a principal to select apreference value for a dynamic preference in response to identifying thedynamic preference in a subset of preferences for the principal in theset of preferences, wherein the dynamic preference is a preference thatrequires a selection of a preference value by the principal in real timeas the set of preferences is being generated; computer usable programcode for receiving a selection of the preference value for the dynamicpreference; computer usable program code for including the dynamicpreference and the value selected for the dynamic preference in the setof preferences.
 16. An apparatus comprising: a bus system; acommunications system coupled to the bus system; a memory connected tothe bus system, wherein the memory includes computer usable programcode; and a processing unit coupled to the bus system, wherein theprocessing unit executes the computer usable program code to identify aprincipal associated with a charging transaction for an electric vehiclein response to a vehicle preference service receiving a request for aset of preferences associated with the charging transaction for theelectric vehicle from an energy transaction planner, wherein theprincipal is an entity having an interest in the charging transactionfor the electric vehicle, and wherein the charging transaction is atransaction associated with at least one of charging the electricvehicle, storing electric power in an electric storage mechanismassociated with the electric vehicle, and de-charging the electricvehicle; retrieve the set of preferences from a plurality ofpreferences, by the vehicle preference service, wherein the set ofpreferences comprises a subset of preferences for each principal in theset of principals, wherein a preference in the set of preferencesspecifies a parameter of the charging transaction that is to beminimized, maximized, or optimized; and send the set of preferences tothe energy transaction planner, by the vehicle transaction planner. 17.The apparatus of claim 16 wherein each preference in the set ofpreferences is associated with a weighting value, and wherein theprocessor unit further executes the computer usable program code toretrieve the weighting value associated with each preference in the setof preferences; and send the weighting value associated with the eachpreference in the set of preferences to the energy transaction planner,wherein the weighting value indicates a priority of each preferencerelative to other preferences in the set of preferences.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 16 wherein the processor unit further executes thecomputer usable program code to retrieve current selected preferencesfor a user and presenting the current selected preferences to the userin response to a determination that the user has previously selectedpreferences to form the current selected preferences; prompt the user toenter changes to the current selected preferences in response toreceiving a selection to enter the changes to the current selectedpreferences by the user; receive the changes to the current selectedpreferences; and store the changes to the current selected preferencesin a data storage device to form updated preferences for the user.
 19. Avehicle preference service on an electric vehicle comprising: a plannerinterface, wherein the planner interface receives a request for a set ofpreferences for an identified principal associated with a chargingtransaction for the electric vehicle from an energy transaction planner,and wherein the planner interface sends the set of preferencesresponsive to the request to the energy transaction planner, wherein theidentified principal is an entity having an interest in the chargingtransaction for the electric vehicle, wherein the charging transactionis a transaction associated with at least one of charging the electricvehicle, storing electric power in an electric storage mechanismassociated with the electric vehicle, and de-charging the electricvehicle; and a preference manager, wherein the preference managerretrieves the set of preferences from a plurality of preferences storedon the electric vehicle for the identified principal, wherein apreference in the set of preferences specifies a parameter of thecharging transaction that is to be minimized, maximized, or optimized.20. The vehicle preference service of claim 19 further comprising: auser input/output interface, wherein a user input and output interfacereceives an identification of a user and associates the identificationof the user with the set of preferences created by the user in responseto the user creating the set of preferences.